Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- Biden to Limit Chinese Role in U.S. EV Market — The Biden administration is expected to release tax credit rules on Friday that could shape the American market for electric vehicles.
- Henry Kissinger, Influential Diplomat, Dies at 100 — The German-born academic was a hero to war-weary Americans fearing nuclear Armageddon, but the left blamed him for brutalities abroad and the right for his détentes with Communist regimes.
- China’s Economy Faces a Sour End to the Year — Weakening manufacturing and services activity show stimulus efforts falling short.
- China’s Economy Is Stuck in a Vicious Cycle — The country’s economy is caught between wary households and wobbly property firms, with no clear escape route.
The Financial Times
- PDD rattles Alibaba and ByteDance slashes games — The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times.
- How Huawei surprised the US with a cutting-edge chip made in China — The inside story of how the country’s flagship tech company kept its edge in the semiconductor war despite sanctions.
- China’s coal habit casts doubt on Xi’s climate promises — Continued reliance on the fuel risks overshadowing the country’s progress in developing clean technologies.
- Chinese factory activity contracts in sign of economy losing momentum — Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index falls despite government efforts to boost growth.
- American diplomat Henry Kissinger dies aged 100 — The former US secretary of state helped open up relations with China and ushered in a detente with the Soviet Union.
- Opinion: The fading era of hyperglobalisation is a study in success — Worldwide integration of markets should not be pursued at all costs but should be a means to an end. By Alan Beattie.
- Opinion: China may be close to a climate tipping point — With incentives from the rest of the world to slash its emissions, the country could be the leading force in the green transition. By Pilita Clark.
The New York Times
- Henry Kissinger Is Dead at 100; Shaped Nation’s Cold War History — The most powerful secretary of state of the postwar era, he was both celebrated and reviled. His complicated legacy still resonates in relations with China, Russia and the Middle East.
- Kissinger Kept Busy as a Diplomat Long After Leaving State Department — Just this summer, the ultimate back-channel diplomat returned to Beijing, where he had negotiated the opening to China.
- To Many Chinese, Kissinger’s Death Ends an Era in U.S.-China Relations — In Beijing’s praise of his legacy, there is implicit criticism of a U.S. shift in recent years away from cooperation and toward intensifying competition.
- Kissinger’s Legacy Still Ripples Through Vietnam and Cambodia — His decision to authorize the bombing of Cambodia, efforts to extricate the U.S. from the Vietnam War and role in the rapprochement with China continue to be felt in Southeast Asia.
- Britain Says Bye-Bye to Its Only Pandas as They’ll Soon Depart for China — The playful, waddling bears charmed millions of people at the Edinburgh Zoo of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Caixin
- China Life and NCI Join Hands in $7 Billion Fund for Stock Investments — New fund to make long-term investments in listed shares; analysts say insurers responding to central government call to bolster flagging stock market.
- China Aims to Ensure Migrant Workers Get Paid Before Lunar New Year — Provincial-level governments have told local authorities under their jurisdictions to ensure employers pay wage arrears before the country’s most important holiday begins in February.
- Central China City Calls Out Developers for Breaking ‘Presale Fund’ Rules — Wuhan housing bureau names 16 companies, including seven that had failed to transfer revenue to specified escrow accounts in order to evade oversight.
- Tesla Opens More Charging Facilities to Competitors in China — U.S. carmaker aims to leverage its extensive charging infrastructure to boost revenue, utilization rates.
- Xi’s Shanghai Visit Focuses on Tech Innovation, Affordable Housing — Xi visited the Shanghai Futures Exchange, a sci-tech innovation exhibition and a government-subsidized rental housing community, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
South China Morning Post
- China indicts 52 per cent more cyber scammers than last year as country cracks down on fraud rings — Top prosecutor’s office says it has indicted 34,000 people in first 10 months of the year, with about half of them involved in overseas syndicates.
- China confirms it is working with US to restore military communication channels based on Xi-Biden agreement — Chinese defence ministry says it is in talks to resume suspended dialogues ‘on the basis of equality and respect’, but warns against American military aid to Taiwan.
- China, Turkmenistan vow to strengthen cooperation on energy and security — At a meeting in Ashgabat, Chinese vice-premier says relations have taken a ‘significant leap’.
Nikkei Asia
- Philippines seeking partners to counter Beijing in South China Sea — Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Japan, New Zealand, the U.K., Canada and France are among the candidates to potentially join multilateral patrols in the disputed waters.
- What China’s graphite export curbs mean for EVs: 5 things to know — The restrictions require a license for export of some synthetic and natural graphite, of which China is by far the world’s biggest supplier.
- A protracted Taiwan war likely to favor U.S. over China, analysts say — A potential conflict with China over Taiwan could become protracted and that such a war likely would favor the U.S., according to experts who are following the issue.
- Analysis: How Biden’s farewell jab at Xi over Taiwan traveled across the Pacific — Days after U.S.-China summit, democratic island’s opposition alliance collapsed.
Bloomberg
- China Remembers Kissinger as ‘Valued Old Friend’ in US Ties — China paid tribute to Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state who helped open the Asian nation to the West, portraying him as invaluable to building ties between the two economic superpowers.
- BMW, Mercedes to Set Up Joint EV Charging Network in China — BMW AG and Mercedes-Benz Group AG will cooperate on a fast-charging network for EVs in China with a plan to open at least 1,000 stations by 2026, a move that will still leave the two luxury-car makers trailing Tesla Inc.
- Jack Ma Returns to Rally Troops as Alibaba’s Troubles Deepen — China’s most famous entrepreneur broke years of silence about Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. with a call to arms for employees, following years of brutal government punishment and strategic missteps that cost the e-commerce pioneer its place as leader of the country’s tech industry.
- Google Warns China Is Ramping Up Cyberattacks Against Taiwan — China is waging a growing number of cyberattacks on neighboring Taiwan, according to cybersecurity experts at Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Reuters
- How the U.S. courted the Philippines to thwart China — Washington needs Manila in its camp as tensions with China rise in the Indo-Pacific. Reuters got inside the charm offensive.
- Exclusive: China Evergrande seeks to avoid liquidation with last-ditch debt plan — Sources told Reuters that creditors were unlikely to accept Evergrande’s new proposal given low recovery prospects and growing concerns about the developer’s future.
- China’s factories fall deeper into contraction, more policy support expected — Negative sentiment among factory managers appears to have become entrenched in the face of weak demand both at home and abroad.
- China seeks ‘concrete’ roadmap for two-state solution to solve Gaza conflict — The proposal was laid out in a paper stating China’s position on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict released by the Chinese foreign ministry.
Other Publications
- The Information: Sequoia Capital Separates From China Affiliate Ahead of Schedule — The venture firm has completed the process of separating IT systems and other back-end functions from the Chinese and Indian entities, according to two people familiar with the matter.
- The Economist: China edges towards a big bail-out — Officials in Beijing want to avoid picking winners and the moral hazard inherent in bailing-out poorly run localities.
- The Economist: What does Henry Kissinger’s diplomacy have to teach the world? — A grasp of the subtle interplay between interests, values and the use of force is still useful.
- The Atlantic: The People Who Didn’t Matter to Henry Kissinger — Lauded for his strategic insights, the former secretary of state is better remembered for his callousness toward the victims of global conflict.
- AP: Congress members, activists decry assaults against anti-China protesters during San Francisco summit — The Congressional-Executive Commission said the group Human Rights in China alleged that counterprotesters may have ties to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
- POLITICO: Opinion: Behind China’s Plans to Build AI for the World — The U.S. needs to be more ambitious in building global AI, not just regulating it — or risk losing out to Beijing. By Bill Drexel and Hannah Kelley.
- Foreign Affairs: Taiwan and the True Sources of Deterrence — Why America Must Reassure, Not Just Threaten, China.
- Foreign Policy: Why Xi Thinks He Got the Better of Biden — The summit may have calmed relations, but don’t expect that state to last.
